No. 9 UCLA beats Michigan State 28-10 to stay unbeaten as Kayd Coffman makes his first start

No. 9 UCLA stayed perfect. The Bruins ran for 245 yards, scored 28 straight points after an early deficit and beat Michigan State 28-10 on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, improving to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten.

The game is final. For Michigan State, the afternoon was mostly about a quarterback who had never thrown a college pass before kickoff. True freshman Kayd Coffman made his first career start and threw a touchdown on the Spartans’ opening scoring drive, but Michigan State managed just 156 total yards and fell to 2-6 and 0-5 in conference play.

Michigan State vs. UCLA scoring summary

Scoring and stats are from the ESPN box score.

Who is Kayd Coffman?

Michigan State entered the week thin at quarterback. Backup Cam Fancher had been out for several weeks with a leg injury, according to SI’s Spartan Nation, and starter Alessio Milivojevic was not expected to play because of an undisclosed injury after being listed as questionable on three straight availability reports. That left the job to Coffman.

Coffman is a true freshman from East Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, listed at 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds. 247Sports rated him a four-star prospect, the 19th-best quarterback and 274th-best player overall in the 2026 class. Before Saturday, his only college action was a garbage-time appearance at Wisconsin with three rushes for minus-1 yard and no passes. SI described him as a dual-threat player more in the mold of Fancher than Milivojevic.

His debut started well. He hit Chrishon McCray for 19 yards on an early drive, and on a short, two-play possession he found Kenneth Williams for a 14-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. After that, the UCLA defense took over. Coffman finished 4-of-10 for 42 yards with one touchdown and one interception, a pass that Donavyn Pellot returned 67 yards in the second quarter, and he was sacked three times.

Leo Hannan, whom SI had projected as the backup, played quarterback in the fourth quarter. He went 9-of-15 for 67 yards with an interception, and his drive set up Liam Boyd’s field goal. The box score does not explain the change, and the reason was not immediately clear at publication.

UCLA’s ground game takes over

UCLA leaned on its backfield. Anthony Woods ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, Wayne Knight added 56 yards and a score, and Jaivian Thomas had 41 yards and a touchdown.

Quarterback Ty Dieffenbach completed 18 of 31 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. His biggest throw came on UCLA’s first drive of the second half, a 63-yard touchdown to Brian Rowe Jr. that made it 21-7. Dieffenbach was shaken up on a play late in the first half, according to the play-by-play, but returned. Semaj Morgan caught a team-high seven passes for 70 yards.

UCLA’s defense

The Bruins held Michigan State to 1.6 yards per carry and 2-of-11 on third down. Linebacker Jalen Woods led UCLA with nine tackles and a sack, Sammy Omosigho had two sacks, and Malik Hartford had an interception and a pass breakup. UCLA did lose two fumbles, which kept the score from getting further out of hand. Kenneth Williams led Michigan State with 54 rushing yards, and Nikai Martinez and Devin Vaught each had eight tackles.

FAQ